Misclassification Incident: Google's Image Search Mistakes Human Faces for Gorillas, Highlighting the Need for Responsible AI

In a recent incident, Google's image search algorithm mistakenly tagged images of Black people as 'Gorillas.' This unfortunate event underscores the importance of implementing robust safeguards in AI systems to prevent such occurrences. The misclassification not only raises concerns about bias but also emphasizes the need for trustworthy AI governance and harm prevention measures. Through HISPI Project Cerebellum TAIM, we invite contributions—JOIN US—to learn more and collaborate towards building safe and secure AI.

Matched TAIM controls

Suggested mapping from embedding similarity (not a formal assessment). Browse all TAIM controls

MAP 1.6 — similarity 0.542, rank 1. TAIM detail and related incidents →
GOVERN 3.1 — similarity 0.530, rank 2. TAIM detail and related incidents →
MEASURE 2.10 — similarity 0.524, rank 3. TAIM detail and related incidents →

Source

Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/16

Data source

Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).

When citing the database as a whole, please use:

McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.

Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide

We use weekly snapshots of the AIID for stable reference. For the official suggested citation of a specific incident, use the “Cite this incident” link on each incident page.